Batman: The Killing Joke

For the train ride back up from DC to NYC this weekend, I picked up Batman: The Killing Joke at Fantom Comics in Tenlytown.  Oddly, it wasn't until a day or so after reading it that it hit me exactly how good a comic it is, maybe even mildly extraordinary. It's hard to spot, because it's openly minor in its ambitions. The book is a one off, only 45 pages in length, and it tells a self-contained story. Within the confines of that, however,there are many delights to be found.

First off, it's worth noting that it is written by Alan Moore, widely considered one of the maybe three greatest writers in  comics, and often put right at the top of the list (although some would probably place Grant Morrison at the pinacle, it's worth saying). I have mixed feelings about Moore. I love Watchmen, it's probably one of my favorite books, but was disappointed in From Hell and think V For Vendetta is an egomanical piece of garbage.  Batman: The Killing Joke is considered second-tier Moore, but I'd actually put it closer to the top, it's one of the better, more consistent, and least-pretentious pieces Moore's done.  Naturally, he has disavowed it at unsatisfactory and beneath him, probably because it didn't contain enough narrative-destorying speeches about something Moore read that day in the 18th century edition of the Encyclopedia Brittanica.

I kid, I kid, but one thing about The Killing Joke that's great is that within its simple confines, Moore is kept away from his worst habit as a writer-- which is to enter into a kind of stentorian speech to the reader where he seeks to edify you in his private cosmology and obscurantist historical knowledge (or political beliefs). We see glimpses of this habit forming in From Hell, but it really comes to the fore in V For Vendetta where Moore casts himself as his anarchist mouthpiece hero, and the reader as Evie, who must be educated to see the world a different way. Every time V appears in the pages of the comic, he begins mouthing off about this that or the other political belief that Moore wants you to think about. Since V is also a genius who has a plan which is never in any risk of ever going awry for any reason, V For Vendetta lacks anything resembling dramatic tension or narrative momentum.

Batman: The Killing Joke should perhaps be called The Joker: The Killing Joke as Batman appears briefly within its pages and functions largely as a thematic and narrative device.  The plot is simple: the Joker escapes, shoots Commissioner Gordon's daughter, takes him hostage  and tries to drive him insane in a decomissioned amusement park.  Batman comes to the rescue, the Joker gets arrested.

What I did not realize until after it was over is that within the comic, Moore invents the backstory for The Joker that is now (thanks to the Burton movie) taken for granted as his definitive history. Interwoven with the above story, we get flashbacks of the Joker as an out of work stand up comic (in the odd 20th century pastiche of the Batman universe, it appears that he is a vaudeville era failed comic, but the exact period is of course unclear).  He has a pregnant wife to support, and so he agrees to be the third wheel in a crime being plotted by two low-rent mobsters. The robbery goes awry and- while being chased through a chemical plant by Batman- Joker falls into a vat of chemicles and emerges and evil disfigured mastermind.

So beyond its historical importance, what makes Batman: The Killing Joke so damn good?  First off, although he makes only a few short appearances, the way Moore treats the character of Batman is extraordinary. The book opens with a monologue that Batman gives to Joker (snippets of which, in Moore's trademark montage fashion appear a few times) in which he recognizes that he and the Joker are locked in a death spiral, that their story will end with one, or the other, or both dying and before that happens he wants to try at least once to stop it.  Moore uses this speech to build some suspense as to whether or not Batman will in fact kill Joker within the book  (I won't ruin that one).  Batman's doomed melancholy is one of the more interesting emotional notes that the character can evoke, and it's rare for a superhero to have that kind of complex emotional coloring. Moore exploits this for all its worth by mirroring it in the Joker's insanity.  The Joker knows he's crazy, but considers himself only a hair crazier than the rest of the world. After all, his adversary dresses up like a winged rodent to fight crime ("Didn't you have a bad day once too?" Joker asks). 

Besides this, there is also the absolutely brilliant final five pages or so, which I can't describe without ruining them. So I won't.

And on top of all of this, the art is superlative. The comic was drawn by Brian Bolland and his clean line style is evocative and beautiful. The comic has several silent pages, and the level of detail and precision he brings to visual storytelling nicely compliment Moore's famous textual fastidiousness. The new edition of the comic also has been recolored by Bolland. He was deeply unhappy with the original comics' coloring, and so asked to be able to recolor it himself. All of the original art was in the hands of collectors so, thanks to the wizardry of computers, he was able to take the color out of the pages and then recolor it.  The major change has been in the flashback sections, which are now in a kind of sepia toned black-and-white, with one red or pink object in every scene colored in, ominously leading to the robbery, where the color red will turn out to be a tragic plot device.

All in all a great read, with a crackerjack ending. A nice short respite from reading about the Holocaust and Stalingrad, that's for sure.

Comments

[Noah]

Wow ... I couldn't agree with you less.

Beautiful artwork and I love a lot of Moore's writing , but ... well, no need to start a fight. I'll just say it would have been a good imaginary story.

[James]

What’s also interesting is, aside from the title of the book and a display screen in the batcave, Batman and Joker’s names are never mentioned in the book. They’re presented simultaneously as Icons (in Title Case) and as three-dimensional characters who have a very bitter and (frankly) sad history.

Also, the use of silence throughout the book (entering Arkham Asylum, Batman patrolling the streets with Joker’s mug shot, their fight) is simply stunning.

[patrick]

Yeah, I read this when it came out at just the right time for it to warp my brain (in a good way). I know you and I respond differently to Moore's writing, but I do agree that this is one of his best (and some of his Swamp Thing work is quite extraordinary as well; worth checking out.)

I'm actually kinda sad about the re-coloring, to tell you the truth. I saw a comparison of the two versions, and while the new coloring IS gorgeous, I sorta loved the almost-hallucinogenic intensity of the original. It was overwhelming in a way that I'll miss.

[isaac]

Hey guys,

Noah-- I'm actually really interested in your thoughts about this esp. As you are a more avid DC reader. Let's just agree to be civil!

James-- d'oh I forgot to talk about the silence! Thanks for filling in.

Patrick-- do you have swamp thing? Can I borrow it?

[Bilal]

Great look at The Killing Joke, and I agree that From Hell was disappointing, if fascinating on a thoroughly encyclopedic level.

But respectfully, Isaac, I must disagree with you on your reading of V for Vendetta. I think you make the erroneous assumption that the main arc of the story is about V and his Vendetta, when in fact this is merely a framing device for the two characters you're meant to focus on--Evey Hammond and Eric Finch, the characters who actually have journey and change. And I don't think Moore goes into a lot of political mumbo-jumbo, as you say, so much as examines the relatively simple thesis that All Fascism Is Doomed To Fail. Indeed, the genius of V's plan is how little, relatively, he actually has to do in order to collapse the entire structure. Moore's point is that nearly everybody in a fascist power structure is so corrupt, greedy, and paranoid of losing that power, that in fact they will tear each other apart as their heavily controlled environment begins to show cracks. V disappears for almost the entire second volume of the story and Moore instead focuses on the human players--because in the end, they are the ones who take it all down.

I don't feel Evey is meant to be a reader surrogate; she instead serves the purpose of being V's redemption. V, as a character, is irretrievably damaged and consumed by his hatred of the government, and knows from the start not only that he is not meant to survive his actions, but that in order for society to move past the fascist state he cannot survive his actions. Evey, as she grows, becomes a better version of V--whereas the original model is bent on destruction, Evey's version understands forgiveness, mercy, and the idea of rebuilding. (V comprehends these things but no longer has the capacity to implement them.)

My arguments here--and I'm cutting myself short, trust me, I could write a thesis on V for Vendetta--may not be convincing to you, but I would ask that you give it another read with this in mind. There's more to it than Moore venting political screed, and I find it an incredibly relevant work in light of the past seven years of Bush Cabal.

[Noah]

Okay, here are my problems with The Killing Joke.

A) Comic books are not necessarily a medium exclusively for children. But Batman is a character created for children. It's fine for adults to read it, just as it's fine for adults to enjoy Harry Potter, Disney cartoons, etc. But there's something deeply wrong about doing "adult stories" about children's characters. Batman can be dark, he can work on multiple levels, but there should never be a Batman story (at least one in regular continuity, as TKJ was) that cannot be read by a nine year old. Fans say "I have grown up, the characters should grow up with me." But if you said that about Mickey Mouse, or Strawberry Shortcake, you'd be judged, rightly, as a freak. If you can't enjoy a Batman story that's aimed at children, you've probably outgrown them and you need to move on. That's what's supposed to happen, unless you're as deeply immature as, well, me.

B) The story, along with "A Death in the Family," permanently tipped the scales. It's now ridiculous that Batman hasn't killed the Joker. He can't because both characters need to stay alive for the franchise. Moore refuses to play by the rules. You just can't make BIG changes in the lives of characters who need to have another issue come out next month. Sorry, that's how serial fiction works. If that bugs you, maybe you shouldn't be reading DC superhero comics. Again, they're supposed to be for twelve year olds. There are plenty of smaller publishers doing "grownup" superheroes for you to enjoy.

C) The shooting, crippling, and all-but rape of Barbara Gordon was just the latest in a long line of deeply mysoginistic treatments of female superheroes. The deaths of Phoenix and Elektra were great stories, the death of Terra was good, too, but it's just gotten absurd. Male heroes outnumber women five to one, but the women are always the first to die to provide pathos for the men. Yes, the creation of Oracle was a good one, but Moore gets little to no credit for that. Besides, why did we need to destroy a perfectly good character like Batgirl? If it bothers you that she's just "a female Batman" then how about finding subtle ways to distinguish her?

D) Batman "sharing a joke" with the Joker is just disgusting.

And the thing is, all of this would have been FINE if the story had been imaginary, or, even better, had used pastiche characters. If this had been "Nightman versus the Clown" it could have been a great story and the deconstruction wouldn't have been so ... destructive. Moore did great things with pastiche in Watchmen, who on Earth would DC let him fuck up the "real" DC universe so much?

Sigh ... I still love League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and "For the Man Who Has Everything."

[Eric]

I have got a copy of the Killing Joke from 1988. The title is written in pink. Others I have seen are yellow and still others are green. Does anyone know why? I am not a huge comic book fan, I just always liked Batman and graphic novels, so I am not quite sure.